*frown*

[dream_labyrinth]

OK guys, I absolutely hate weekends. Why? Because of you!
Nobody's around on weekends. No, that's not true. wolflady26 and correspondguy have been here, and gave me something to read and write comments and even answered to my comments, but that was it.
Now if I'm not at the computer for something like 8 hours, I want to come back to find my mailbox swamped with "reply to your comment" and "reply to your post" emails.And what happens? I logged on yesterday night and had no emails at all. Not even a teensy-weensy one. None.
I'm getting depressed here.
Now if I write something and you have anything to say to that, no matter what it is, please, say it. Give me the impression that I'm not simply addicted to my email account and LJ, but go there for a reason.

Comments

[agrathea.livejournal.com]

I definitely don't think you should take it that way. Considering the size of most people's friends lists, it just gets really cumbersome to comment on all the entries people would like, especially when they are pretty busy.

Also, most of the friends on my friends list are people I actually know that are too far away to keep up with, and LJ lets me read up on them to see what they're doing. Just because I can't comment doesn't mean I don't care or think what they have to say is interesting.

Perhaps at the core of the discussion is just a basic questioning of what LJ is about. For some people it is just a journal, but for others, it is sort of empty without more of a community aspect. So when I don't comment on some people's journals, it is a slight or an unintended commentary on the worth of their post for comment. While in my mind, not commenting means nothing but the fact that I don't have the time or energy to comment at the moment.

I can understand why some might take away from the situation negative feelings, but I can't worry whether about others taking umbrage from my own behaviors, especially when my own lack of comments has nothing to do with the other person at all.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I think I might have sounded more negative than I meant.

I have a fairly large number of people reading me, so there aren't all that many posts where noone says anything at all. If I get no comments, I kind of get that "Hello, is this mike on?" feeling.

I don't feel bad, or any resentment, if any particular person doesn't post, and I surely don't comment on every one of my friends' posts (I would never be able to do anything else if I tried that!). But I do feel happy when I get a comment, because that means that there is some interaction going on.

The people on LJ that I feel closest to are the ones that I chat with through comments, both on my LJ and on theirs. Not necessarily every post, not necessarily every day even, but occasionally.

To be specific, I don't have a feeling that you and I don't interact. I mean, here we are right now :D And we've chatted about other things in the past as well, and I'm quite happy with that.

There are a couple of people that I don't feel particularly close to. When I read their writings, I'm not motivated to comment, and rarely get a comment from them.

I do use my journal differently from most other writers, in that I don't have any real life friends on my flist. I read only one person that I've ever _met_ in RL, and that was an old friend that I hadn't spoken to for years before finding on LJ. So the vast majority of my communication is through comments.

I'm rambling. I'm going to stop. Simple summary: I like getting comments, but don't feel like LJ has no meaning if I don't, and would hate the thought that anyone would feel pressured to leave comments if they're not motivated to by what I write. :)

[agrathea.livejournal.com]

Hahah! Thanks for clarifying. I'm glad to know you wouldn't have taken offense to my silent spells. It is kind of good to know different people's feelings on posting, it kind of gives me pause to think about how I feel about it, as well.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I actually get the feeling that something good came from my whiny little post. That's great. We need to know how differently we feel about these things to make sure we're not offended when no offense is intended.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you say in your summary. I, too, have no real life friends on my LJ friends list. I know one RL friend who reads my posts, but all others I can only get in contact with through LJ. So reading their posts and getting comments from them is the subsitute for regular communication with them.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I'm OK with that, but I think it's good that my little post started this discussion, because it helps other people understand why or why not they receive comments. If you say you read my journal, I know that you do, even if you don't comment. But there is really no way of being sure, is there?

[agrathea.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree, some good did come of it.

Certainly there is no way of being sure, but then I would hope you could trust my word. I find it interesting that it matters so much to you... If I am the type of person who would lie about such a thing, perhaps I am not worth the concern?

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Oww. No, I didn't mean it that way.
Actually, I do believe that you read my Journal even if you don't comment. The "can't be sure" part was meant in a more general way.

[agrathea.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay! Sorry I misunderstood. :)

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

No problem. I didn't really make myself clear enough, so it wasn't any wonder that you understood it the way you did...